Closest Thing to a Brother
by Zoe Blade
Summary: Ace and Sabo meet a friend that Luffy never told them about; a friend who's as playful and immature as him, as clever and level-headed as Sabo, and as tough and stubborn as Ace...with a past just as checkered if not more. it's better than it sounds
1. The Letter from Obsidian Island

Closest Thing to a Brother

* * *

Ch. 1. The letter from Obsidian Island

Luffy, Ace and Sabo prepared to set off from the Dadan House for another day of training and hunting. The three brothers were barely out the door when Dogra called out to one of them.

"Hey, Luffy," he said, pulling out an envelope, "this arrived here yesterday; it was addressed to you."

When he saw the envelope, Luffy immediately snatched it away, his eyes widening when he read the front of it.

"Luffy gets mail?" Ace said in confusion as the 7-year-old ripped open the envelope to read the letter inside.

"Apparently." Sabo replied equally confused.

Suddenly, Luffy's expression changed to that of horror and all the color drained from his face. Dropping the letter, he looked up at Dogra and grabbed his shirt collar with both hands.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU GIVE THIS TO ME YESTURDAY?!" he screamed.

"Y-y-you ran out of the house before I could get the chance!" Dogra whimpered while the two brothers pried Luffy off of him. "A-a-and when you did come back, you wouldn't sit still long enough for me to give it to you!"

"Luffy, what is it?" Sabo asked.

"I-I-I gotta go; there's something I need to take care of!" he said quickly before running off. "I'll catch up with you guys later, bye!"

Ace and Sabo looked at each other in confusion once Luffy had disappeared.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ace said.

Sabo picked up the letter Luffy had dropped and read it to himself.

'_I'll be arriving here tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to seeing you again, I missed you a lot. Meet you at the docks, little buddy!'_

"Well, that's weird." He said to himself, handing the letter to Ace. "It doesn't say who it's from."

"'Little buddy'?" Ace said after reading the letter. "I thought Luffy said he didn't have any friends aside from us!"

"That's not all that's unusual;" Magra said, finally making his presence known along with Dadan. "According to the envelope it came in, that letter was sent from Sapphire Village."

"Sapphire Village? Where's that?!"

"On Obsidian Island," Dadan replied, "which is a three day sailing voyage from here."

"Three days?!" Sabo said. "Who is Luffy meeting?!"

"Good question." Ace replied, walking in the direction Luffy had run off to. "Let's go ask him."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Ace? I mean, if Luffy wanted us to know, he would have told us."

Ace looked over his shoulder. "Are you coming or not?"

The blond pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed before following Ace.

"If for no other reason but to keep you from hurting him too much."

* * *

As Luffy sprinted towards the docks, the same phrase kept repeating itself in his head over and over again; _Please don't be here yet! Please don't be here yet! Please don't be here yet!_

Once he arrived, Luffy scanned all the ships and faces at the docks, hoping not to see the familiar skiff with black sails or its owner. When he didn't see either, the 7-year-old looked out across the ocean until he caught sight of a small approaching ship with its sails tied up.

_Is that the Shadow?_ He thought.

Soon after, Luffy saw a young 8-year-old boy running to the front of the ship. Despite how far away it was, he could still make out that the boy was wearing a short yellow vest over a white t-shirt, and had over his dark red, almost brown hair a forest green Robin Hood cap with a quail feather in it, which was what he was looking for. Excitedly, Luffy started jumping up and down, waving his hands in the air to get the boy's attention.

"HEEEEEY! NAAAATIIIIII!" he screamed. "NATI, OVER HEEEERE!"

Having seen and heard the 7-year-old jumping and screaming, the boy on the ship, Nati, smiled and waved back at him before cupping his hands over his mouth.

"LUFFY!" he yelled. "STAY PUT; I'LL BE RIGHT OVER!"

Nati ran off to untie the sails and steer his skiff into port. However, although he heard him, Luffy, being Luffy, couldn't wait that long. Wrapping one arm several times around a nearby post, the 7-year-old cocked his other arm back and launched it at the skiff, grabbing the front of it. When Nati saw this, he quickly ran back to the front of the ship.

"LUFFY, NO! I SAID WAIT!" he tried to say. But Luffy had already started quickly pulling the ship in until it crashed into the docks, causing the boy on it, who was holding onto the front for dear life, to tumble over the side and land next to Luffy, who had stumbled backwards from the recoil of both his arms laughing.

"Hi, Nati!" the 7-year-old giggled. "Welcome back to Dawn Island! I really missed you while you were away!"

"I got that from the way you pulled in the Shadow." Nati stood up to examine the damaged hull of his skiff, looking down with a sigh when he was done. "Honestly, every time I come here, it's at least a three day extension to what's supposed to be a one week stay."

Ashamed and a little guilt-ridden, Luffy tilted his head down, hiding his face under his straw hat until he felt Nati place his hand on top of it. He looked up to see the maroon haired boy looking down at him, smiling playfully.

"Not that I'm complaining." He chuckled. "It's good to see you too, little buddy."

Luffy instantly launched himself at his friend, tackling him in a tight hug. Nati gave out a loud 'Urk!' sound and toppled back to the ground from Luffy's momentum. Eventually, he hugged the 7-year-old back and smiled slightly until he realized his lungs were burning.

"GAACK! Luffy!" Nati wheezed. "Luffy…can't breathe!"

Luffy let go of Nati and sat back on his hands, grinning widely while the 8-year-old took several deep breaths.

"Sheesh," he panted, "Bouncy as a ball with a squeeze that could rival that of a python's."

"Sorry."

"For what? It just means you're agile as well as strong; in fact, I don't remember your hugs hurting that much!"

"I've been fighting a lot of big and dangerous animals."

"I'll bet you have." Getting back up, Nati held out his hand for Luffy. "How 'bout you show me how much stronger you've gotten after we eat; I'm starving!"

Luffy took his friend's hand and pulled himself back onto his feet. "I'm gonna beat you this time, Feather-Head."

"Keep dreamin' Stretch!" Nati jumped back onto his skiff. "Now, just wait here while I go get my bag, okay?"

"Okay!"

The raven haired boy sat down on the post he had grabbed earlier and waited patiently until Nati jumped off his ship, a brown seabag slung over his shoulder, and bounded off after him.

"So, what are you in the mood for?" Nati asked while they walked. "Deer? Fish?"

"Crocodile!"

The maroon haired boy looked down at Luffy a little surprised at first, but then smiled and shook his head in amusement.

"You've really gotten a lot braver too since my last visit."

As he wrapped his arm around Luffy's shoulders, Nati noticed a swift movement out of the corner of his eye. Not wanting to worry his friend, he pretended not to have seen it, but still noted the fact that they were both being watched…and by two sets of eyes.

* * *

Luffy bounded from one foot to another while he waited for Nati to finish cooking the crocodile he had just caught.

"Natiiiiii, how much longer?" he whined.

"Hang in there, little buddy, it's almost done." Nati replied as he looked over, noticing once again two forms quickly disappear from sight. Once the crocodile was done, Nati sat down and called Luffy over, who quickly and excitedly bounded over and sat next to the maroon haired boy, snatching the first few bits of meat he could.

"Whoa, slow down, Luffy! Give it time to digest!" Nati exclaimed.

"Sorry, I just really want to show you how much stronger I've gotten."

"I'm sure you do. But could you save some for me? I'm hungry too!" Nati wrapped his hand around a nearby stone. "Hey, do you think our guests will want some?"

Luffy looked over at him and tilted his head in confusion. "What guests?"

Nati threw the stone into the bushes behind them.

"OWWW!" a voice cried, causing Luffy to jump a little.

"They've been following us since we left the docks;" Nati said, not looking over. "I wouldn't be surprised if they've been following us since you pulled in the Shadow."

Not long after, a freckled, raven haired boy reluctantly stood up, a clear look of defeat and annoyance on his face, followed by a well-dressed, top hat wearing blond with a gap in his teeth, nursing a bump forming in the middle of his forehead.

"Ace! Sabo!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly.

"So you know them? Well, for their sakes, I hope they're friends of yours; otherwise they're both in for a world of hurt." The last part Nati said with a firm, growl-like tone.

"We're his brothers." Ace replied equally cold-toned.

Nati glanced over at the freckled boy, his dark green eyes connecting with the glare from Ace's grey eyes, Sabo's eyes darting between the two, unsure of what was going to happen next. Then after what felt like an eternity, Nati finally looked back down and smiled.

"Well, in that case," he motioned to a spot next to him, "why don't you come and join us; there should be plenty for everyone provided I can keep Luffy at bay."

To be continued

* * *

For those of you wondering and/or worrying, I haven't discontinued the scars run deep arc; I'm still working on the next story for that one in fact. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this one


	2. Magnus D Nati

Closest Thing to a Brother Ch 2

took me longer than I wanted, but here's the next chapter. enjoy.

As of 9/15/2014, this chapter has been added onto

* * *

Ch. 2. Magnus D. Nati

"So, these are the brothers you've been telling me so much about." Nati said.

"Mmm-hmm. Biff if Wafe an' baff Fabo!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, little buddy."

"So, Luffy's been telling you about us?" Sabo asked after finishing his third piece of crocodile meat.

"Are you kidding? All he ever talks about is the stuff he does with his two older brothers!"

"Which is interesting, because he's never once mentioned you to either of us." Ace growled.

"Well, it's not like I didn't _want_ to tell you." Luffy said sheepishly.

"It's not?" Sabo said. "Then, why didn't you?"

"Well, y'see," Nati said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, "I kind of asked him not to tell anyone about me after a little fiasco we had with Old Man Garp."

"I guess that's understandable." Ace mumbled.

Nati shifted to face the raven haired 10-year-old. "Since Luffy hasn't mentioned me to the two of you…" the maroon haired boy held out his hand to Ace. "Everyone calls me Nati; Magnus D. Nati."

Ace just looked at his hand for a moment before turning back to his meal. "Portgas D. Ace."

Nati hesitantly retracted his hand. "Well, he's friendly."

"You get used to it." Sabo chuckled as he held out his own hand. "I'm Sabo."

Nati smiled and shook the blonds hand as if they were already close friends.

"So, how long have you known Luffy?" Sabo asked

"Since about a year before he got his Devil Fruit powers."

"Nati was my first friend;" Luffy added. "He's my best friend!"

He snatched up another piece of meat but before he could take a bite, Nati snatched it out of his hands.

"You've already eaten half of the crocodile, Luffy; I think you've had enough." Nati said, taking a bite. "Now how 'bout you save some for the rest of us, okay?"

Luffy pouted a little, but didn't touch the crocodile after that, much to the surprise of his brothers.

"So, if you and Luffy are best friends, how come you were off-island;" Ace said once he and Sabo were done. "Why did you even leave in the first place?"

"Well, because I'm not from Goa; I'm an Obsidian Islander." Nati replied.

"If that's the case, then why are you so far away from home?" Sabo asked.

"To resupply." Luffy answered.

"Luffy's right." Nati began. "Don't let the name fool you; Sapphire Village isn't filled with riches and gems, at least, not anymore."

"What?" both brothers exclaimed.

"Back in the day, Sapphire Village was famous for its jewel mines; rubies, emeralds, diamonds, and yes, most often sapphires. Since the land was too unstable to grow crops on, we used the gems to pay for supplies from merchant ships that often stopped there. Unfortunately, that inevitably caused problems for us."

"You were forced to rely too heavily on the mines." Sabo guessed. "And as a result, they all one day dried out."

"More or less. And once the merchant ships stopped coming, some of the islanders had to set sail to find supplies elsewhere, including me."

"Nati comes here once a month and he stays here for an entire week!" Luffy said.

"I'm _suppose_ to stay for a week, but something always happens that postpones my departure;" Nati flipped back Luffy's straw hat and ruffled the 7-year-olds black hair, smiling smugly. "Usually involving this little bundle of energy."

"I'm not surprised." Ace said.

"All the same, I feel kind of sorry that Luffy keeps you here longer than you're supposed to be." Sabo said.

"I don't really mind; this place is just like home, except here you know where to find all the dangers." After tossing his last bone into a pile, Nati grabbed his seabag and stood up, looking down at Luffy, this time smiling playfully. "Now then, I believe a certain rubbery someone promised me a fight after we eat, eh, Luffy?"

Luffy bounced onto his feet, a smug grin on his face as he walked alongside his friend toward the forest.

"This time, _I'm_ gonna win!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah right. That's what you said last time!"

"Well, this time I mean it!"

"You said _that_ last time, too!"

"I'm stronger than I was last month!"

"So am I." Nati looked over at Ace and Sabo, who were both still sitting down, staring at the two of them. "Y'know, if you guys want to come and watch, I don't mind, and I'm pretty sure Luffy won't either."

* * *

Ace and Sabo sat down on a nearby tree root and watched while the two friends got ready for their fight.

"How good do you think he is?" Sabo asked.

"Who?" Ace simply replied.

"Nati; I mean, from the way him and Luffy talk, it sounds like he can, at the very least, hold his own in a fight. You think he's as good as they've been letting on?"

"No."

Sabo looked at his brother. "Why not?"

Ace returned the blonds gaze. "Because he's too much like Luffy; he's laid-back, over optimistic, too easy-going, not to mention he talks and acts like everything's a big game to him. And to top it all off, he's even more soft on Luffy than you are."

"So, you think Luffy's actually gonna beat him?"

Ace looked back at the two boys, who were about to begin. "I think we're gonna be here all day, if we're lucky."

"Alright, Luffy," Nati said as he grabbed the back and front of his Robin Hood cap and adjusted it firmly onto his head, "you ready?"

The second he lowered into a fighting stance, Luffy charged him, winding up his arm.

"Here I come, Nati!" he yelled. "Gum-Gum PISTOL!"

Luffy stretched out his arm, sending his fist barreling shakily towards Nati's head, only to miss him entirely, causing the maroon haired boy to relax a little and sigh in annoyance.

"Luffy, how many times have I told you, don't open with the same attack every fight;" he groaned. "Especially when it's an attack that keeps missing its target."

"I didn't miss;" Luffy smirked. "I wasn't aiming for you!"

Upon hearing this, Nati immediately looked behind him to see that Luffy had grabbed a low tree branch.

"Gum-Gum…" Nati looked back at the 7-year-old and saw him flying straight towards him with his free arm outstretched as if preparing to take off his head. "SCYTHE!"

Ace and Sabo expected Nati to duck to avoid the attack but instead, he held his ground until the last second and pivoted around Luffy's arm as he breezed past him. Luffy kept his grip on the branch and launched himself at the 8-year-old, his fist cocked back, ready to punch. The two 10-year-olds expected Nati to jump out of the way, but instead, he once again stood his ground, readjusting his stance, and at the last second, uppercut Luffy in the jaw, sending him flying upward, spinning and screaming.

"C'mon, Luffy." Nati whispered half to himself. "C'mon, correct yourself; I know I taught you this one."

As if on cue, Luffy stretched out his arm and grabbed the closest tree branch to him to stop him from spinning then used his momentum to swing down to the ground running towards Nati with his fist cocked back for another Gum-Gum Pistol. As they expected this time, when the 7-year-old threw his shaky extended punch at him, Nati waited until the last second and side-stepped the attack. Then to their surprise, as the punch whizzed past him, Nati grabbed Luffy's arm with one hand and then with the other, yanked him off balance and flying towards him. As Luffy tried vainly to regain his footing while he was hurtling towards his friend, Nati drew his arm back and once he was in striking range, drove Luffy into the ground with a well timed punch to the top on his head. Once it was clear that the dazed 7-year-old wasn't going to continue, Nati relaxed out of his stance, folding his arms in front of his chest.

"That's another win for me, little buddy." He smirked.

While Luffy went into one of his usual childish tantrums, Ace and Sabo looked at each other in complete shock, both thinking the exact same thing;

_What the hell just happened?!_

"RRAAAAAAAAHHH!" their attention was drawn back to the two upon hearing their little brothers whiney roar.

"It's not fair!" Luffy complained. "Why do you always have to beat me whenever we fight?!"

"It's not my fault." Nati replied. "Sometimes you just _make_ it easy for me."

"I DO NOT!"

"Yeah, you do! And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who's noticed." Nati looked over at Ace and Sabo for confirmation, narrowing his eyes in annoyance when he found them gawking at him. "Stop staring, you two; you'll burn holes in my vest!"

When Nati looked back down at Luffy, he found that the 7-year-old had pulled his straw hat down over the top of his head and couldn't help but smile. He placed a hand on Luffy's shoulder, making the raven haired boy look up at him.

"But if it makes you feel better," Nati began, "you lasted a lot longer than you did last time."

Luffy's eyes immediately lit up. "I did?!"

"Yeah!" Nati took his hand off Luffy's shoulder and held it out for him. "In fact, you nearly had me with that new trick of yours! What did you call it? Gum-Gum Scythe?"

"Yup!" Luffy took the maroon haired boys hand and pulled himself onto his feet.

"Well, you would've at the very least sprained my neck with that move if I hadn't seen it coming. You really _have_ gotten stronger since my last visit."

Luffy's grin widened "I told you!"

"I never doubted you."

Nati walked over to grab his seabag, which was next to Ace and Sabo, and didn't notice until after he picked it up that they were still staring at him.

"What?" he said.

"How the hell did you do that?!" Ace yelled.

"I've never seen such perfect timing! That was amazing!" Sabo gawked.

"Thanks." Nati replied. "My father taught me the basics, everything else just came naturally."

"What do you mean?"

"I fight stuff all the time back home."

Nati slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to leave, but Ace grabbed his wrist before he could take a step.

"Can I help you, Ace?"

"Me next."

Nati looked at Ace out of the corner of his eye. "I beg your pardon?"

"Fight me next."

The maroon haired boy turned around to face him. "Why? You've seen what I can do to Luffy."

"And that's why I want to fight you. I want to see just how strong you really are."

"Me too!" Sabo exclaimed. "Don't you dare leave me out of this; if you're _that_ good against Luffy, then I can only imagine how you would be against us!"

"So what do you say, Nati," Ace half-growled, "are you gonna fight us or not?"

Nati's dark green eyes connected first with Ace's grey eyes for a moment, then with Sabo's blue eyes for just as long before he answered.

"Tomorrow."

Ace tightened his grip on the 8-year-olds wrist. "Why not now?"

"Because I said so, and because I have supplies to get back in town." Nati yanked his wrist free from Ace's grip. "Besides, I promised Luffy last month that I would take him out for some target practice on the first free day of my next visit, which is tomorrow, which is the _only_ day I'll put aside for the two of you."

With that, Nati walked over to Luffy, ruffled his hair and after saying his good-byes, ran off into the forest without another word, leaving one brother grinning from ear to ear, and the other two wanting to know more about the strange boy from Obsidian Island.

To be continued

* * *

here you go, a little into Nati's background with a few surprises here and there... with plenty more to come. I hope you liked it


	3. Oops

Closest Thing to a Brother Ch 3

just in time for Sabo's upcoming debut! sorry it took so long. Also keep in mind, chapter 2 has been modified and added onto so read that one first. other than that, enjoy!

* * *

Ch. 3. Oops

The next morning, when the three brothers left the Dadan House, Luffy for once bolted ahead of Ace and Sabo into the forest.

"Luffy, wait for us!" Ace yelled.

"Where are you even going?" Sabo called out.

"The river!" Luffy replied. "Nati's usually there this time of day!"

The two 10-year-olds looked at each other before Sabo looked back at Luffy smiling.

"In that case, lead on." He chuckled.

"You're not serious, are you?" Ace murmured. "You actually want to see him again?"

"Of course I do! Who wouldn't want to see him again; I mean, don't you want to?"

Ace only scoffed and turned away from the blond.

"C'mon, Ace, even you have to admit, Nati's as much of an interesting kid as Luffy is."

"Tch, whatever. The only reason I want to see him again is so that I can fight him."

Sabo couldn't help but chuckle at his brother's response.

_He's so interested in him._

When they arrived at the river, Nati was nowhere to be seen, so they decided after eating a large breakfast of fish, to wait for him to arrive. However, although Luffy was still sitting quietly, after waiting for an hour, Ace was starting to get impatient and Sabo was starting to get a little worried.

"Uh, Luffy…" he began to say.

"Don't worry, Sabo," Luffy replied, "he'll be here."

"Yeah, right." Ace growled. "He probably chickened out because he doesn't really want to fight us."

"No, Nati'll be here."

"Luffy, it's been over an hour, how can you still be so certain?" Sabo asked.

"Because Nati promised he'd fight you guys; and no matter what, Nati _never_ goes back on a promise."

Sabo looked at his little brother for a moment. "Well, if you say so."

"Oh, please," Ace scoffed, "if that red haired rat never goes back on a promise, then where is he?"

At that moment, the three brothers heard a commotion in the forest that sounded like branches snapping, hoof beats, and someone yelling excitedly, and it was getting louder. Suddenly, a large boar charged out of the bushes towards them and riding on its back with a huge grin across his face was Nati, who was lying on his stomach across its spine, holding onto one of its tusks with one hand and keeping his cap in place on his head with the other, which was also keeping his seabag in place across his back. At first, the three of them didn't move from their spots out of complete surprise at what they were seeing, but when Nati saw them, his smile disappeared and he immediately grabbed the boar's ears and pulled back.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY! THIS THING DOESN'T STOP ON A DIME!" Nati screamed.

Having finally snapped out of their surprise, Ace and Sabo dove in one direction while Luffy went the opposite way. As the boar skidded then crashed to the ground exactly where they had been moments ago, Nati used the momentum to jump off its back and tucked into a tight roll on the ground, ending in a sitting position, smiling widely.

"What the hell was that about?!" Ace yelled.

"Breakfast!" Nati replied, but then his smile faded into confusion. "Uh… Where's Luffy?"

"HEEEELLLP!" an all too familiar voice screamed.

All three looked over to find Luffy in the river holding onto a crocodile's snout for dear life, screaming his head off.

"Oops." Nati murmured.

"LUFFY!" both brothers grabbed their pipes but before either could make a break for the river, Ace found himself back on the ground after getting a familiar brown seabag thrown at him, which was surprisingly heavier than it looked, and Sabo found himself blinded by a familiar yellow vest being thrown at his face and when he could see again, noticed an equally familiar forest green Robin Hood cap ringed on his pipe.

"Hold these!" Nati yelled before turning towards the river. "I'M COMING, LUFFY!"

As the crocodile dove back under the water, Nati dove in after it. The two brothers scanned the river for any sign of them and were about to jump in when suddenly, the crocodile reared up out of the water with Nati holding onto the top of its head and Luffy still holding onto its snout screaming. Then it jerked its head upward and tossed the 7-year-old in the air, opening its mouth to catch and eat him, but before it could, Nati punched the crocodile in the eye, causing it to close its mouth early and Luffy to land back on its snout, wrapping his arms several times around its mouth before it dove back underwater.

Moments later, the crocodile resurfaced again with Nati holding onto its snout and Luffy wrapped tightly around his midsection. The second it broke the surface, Nati jerked the crocodile closer to the river's edge and jumped off with Luffy still holding onto him. While in the air, the maroon haired boy pulled Luffy off his back and hugged him close to his chest, turning so that he hit the ground first with a loud crash. When the dust kicked up settled, Ace and Sabo saw Nati lying on his back breathing heavily with Luffy clutching his friend's today black t-shirt trembling. What surprised them the most was, now that he was sitting still, they saw that the 8-year-old had bandages wrapped around his head and on his cheeks as well as several wrapped around his arms when yesterday, he didn't have a scratch on him.

"Are you alright, Lu?" Nati panted.

"Mmm-hmm." Luffy whimpered. "But that was so scary."

"No kidding," with Luffy still in his lap, Nati sat up to wring out the side of his shirt, "those crocodiles are fierce. We could've died!"

Suddenly, the crocodile exploded out of the water towards them. Luffy yelped and ducked behind his friend. Caught off guard at first, Nati quickly recovered, grabbed Luffy and in one swift movement, pivoted around the crocodile as it snapped at the air, using his momentum to land a powerful punch to the side of its jaw. The sickening crunch they heard told them all they needed to know about the condition of the crocodile. After taking a minute to recover from the surprise, the 7 and 8-year-olds looked at each other for a moment then suddenly busted out laughing.

"How can you two be laughing after that?!" Sabo exclaimed.

"C'mon, Sabo," Nati began, "I'm alright, Luffy's fine, no one except the crocodile got hurt, and more importantly, I have a snack for the trip home!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Ace roared. "Sabo and I accidently knocked Luffy into a crocodiles mouth once and he was pissy at us for the rest of the day until I told him he could eat as much of it as he wanted when we cooked it!"

"Yeah, well, Luffy knows it was an accident."

"Mmm-hmm, Nati would never hurt me on purpose!" Luffy said.

Nati looked over at Sabo and held out his hand, a slightly annoyed look in his eyes. It took the blond a moment to realize that he wanted back the vest and cap that he was still holding onto.

"So, where the hell did you learn to ride a boar?!" Ace said.

"From the same person who taught me how to wrestle a crocodile;" Nati said as he snatched his seabag from Ace. "My father."

"Nati, you've got to teach me how to do that too!" Luffy demanded excitedly.

"Luffy, you know you can't swim." Sabo said.

"Not that; boar riding! I wanna learn how to ride a boar!"

"I'll tell you what," Nati replied as he placed his Robin Hood cap back on his head, "the next time I come to Goa, I'll teach you the basics of boar riding."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Not that I like the idea, but what's wrong with teaching him now?" Ace asked.

"It's our agreement; one new trick per visit, and I promised Luffy last month I'd do some target practice with him, remember?"

At that moment, Nati's stomach made a loud rumbling noise and he wrapped his arms around it, chuckling in embarrassment.

"But first…" he began, looking over at the still unconscious boar. "Hey, Luffy, how long has it been since you last ate?"

"About an hour."

"That long?! You must be starving! C'mon, after I get this crocodile on my ship I'll split the boar with you!"

"Can you split it four ways?"

Nati looked back in confusion at the 7-year-old, who motioned over to his brothers. The maroon haired boy smiled in amusement and nodded.

"Hey Ace, Sabo," Nati called out, "looks like Luffy's inviting you to join us!"

* * *

Two hours after they finished, the three brothers watched as Nati tightly wedged two of their pipes deeply into the ground.

"Uh…what are you doing?" Sabo asked.

"You'll see." Nati simply replied before he looked over at his friend. "Hey, Luffy, could you go get a few dozen small stones?"

"Okay!" Luffy replied before running off.

"What do you need stones for?" Ace said.

"You'll see." Nati replied again more firmly before walking over to his seabag. He opened it and pulled out what looked like an elastic band that would belong to a large slingshot, with a leather strap in the middle of it.

"What is that?" both brothers exclaimed.

"You'll See!" Nati snapped a little as he looped either ends of the band around both pipes. At that moment, Luffy came running back, his straw hat filled up with chicken egg-sized stones.

"Will these work?" he asked.

Nati looked over at the pile of stones in Luffy's hat and smiled.

"They're perfect."

Nati walked over to Luffy and putting his hand on the 7-year-old's back guided him over to a spot in front of his 'slingshot'.

"Now, just stand here…" he said as he drew an 'x' in the ground with his heel. He then slowly eased his straw hat out of his hands.

"Be gentle with it." Luffy whimpered.

"It's in good hands, Luffy, I promise." Nati smiled.

The 8-year-old walked back over to his makeshift slingshot and emptied the stones into a pile next to him. Then with a flick of his wrist, he tossed Luffy's straw hat back to him and ringed it on his head.

"Thank you!" he yelled.

"No problem, little buddy!" Nati replied before loading a stone in the makeshift slingshot and pulling it back as far as he could.

"Okay, Luffy!" he strained. "Whenever you're ready, just yell 'pull' at the top of your lungs!"

"Okay!"

"I fail to see how this is going to help with Luffy's aim." Sabo finally said.

"That's because I'm not working on his aim." Nati replied.

"But you said you were going to do some target practice with him." Ace said.

"Yeah; Luffy's the target!"

"WHAT?!" both brothers yelled.

"PULL!" Luffy screamed.

Right on cue, Nati released the stone, sending it flying toward the 7-year-old, who tried to catch it, but instead ended up getting hit in the middle of his forehead and falling backwards with a surprised and pained yelp.

"Luffy, I told you last month, catching comes later." Nati chuckled. "Right now we're working on dodging first, remember?"

"Right, I forgot. Sorry." 7-year-old mumbled as he rubbed the quickly forming bruise on his forehead.

"It's alright, little buddy." Nati picked up another stone. "Give yourself a second to recover your bearings before you try again."

"Okay."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Ace yelled.

"What?" Nati said as he reloaded the slingshot.

"What do you mean, 'what'?! You're firing rocks at our little brother!"

"Oh, relax; I know what I'm doing."

"Are you sure?" Sabo asked.

"Yeah, my father used to do this with me all the time!"

"He did?"

"How else do you think I got such perfect timing?"

"PULL!"

* * *

"I almost can't believe it." Sabo sighed while Nati wrapped a bandage around Luffy's forehead. "Half an hour of getting stones fired at him, and Luffy was only able to dodge 6 of them… out of 47."

"And that's not counting the three he tried to catch." Ace snickered.

"OWWW! That hurts!" Luffy shrieked.

"Oh, stop whining, Luffy, I've done worse to you on accident." Nati said as he fastened the bandage.

"It still hurts!"

"What do you mean, you've done worse to him?!" Ace demanded.

"You don't want to know, trust me." Nati replied.

"Something tells me you're right." Sabo chuckled.

The maroon haired boy nodded in agreement as he ruffled Luffy's hair playfully and placed his straw hat back on his friend's head.

"Y'know, Luffy's never trusted his straw hat with anyone," Nati looked over at Sabo, "not even us."

"Says a lot about how much he trusts me, huh." Nati replied.

Admittedly, Sabo knew he had a point, but…

"No, it's not just that;" he mumbled. "The way he looks at you and acts around you, and the way he was holding onto you when that crocodile was trying to eat you two, it's like he sees you as _more_ than just a friend."

Nati smiled warmly at the blond, understanding what he was getting at.

"There is a reason for that." He said softly. "Y'see, I was there for Luffy first. Before he met me, he really didn't have anyone to look up to or to look after him."

"I've been on my own since I lost my mom the year before." Luffy added sadly.

Ace and Sabo looked at each other, unsure how to respond after that. As Nati wrapped his arms softly around Luffy, Sabo knelt down and placed his hand on his little brother's shoulder for comfort. Ace rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, trying to think of what to say.

"Luffy, I…" he tried, but that was as far as he got.

The 7-year-old looked up at his older brother and smiled. "It's okay."

"I've always taken care of Luffy as best I could." Nati continued. "I try and keep him safe when I'm here, and I do what I can to make sure he can handle himself when I'm not around. To be honest, before he met the two of you, _I_ was the closest thing Luffy had to a brother."

"And that's why he's so close to you." Ace said.

"Mmm-hmm." Luffy replied. "Like I said before, Nati was my first friend."

"Well I'm glad you have a friend like him, Luffy." Sabo smiled. "And I'm even happier that I got to meet _you_, Nati."

"Hey, I just consider it a privilege to be this close to a noble without getting the cold shoulder."

Sabo froze and looked at Nati in panic while Ace looked at him in shock, then both looked over at Luffy in rage.

"YOU TOLD HIM I WAS A NOBLE?!" Sabo roared.

"Dammit, Luffy, don't you ever shut up?!" Ace yelled.

Luffy ducked behind his friend, trembling in fear.

"Wait," Nati looked down at the 7-year-old, "that was a secret?"

"Yes, it was a secret!" Sabo yelled.

"Oops."

Sabo groaned loudly. "I can't believe you, Luffy; of all the things to tell your friend, why did you tell him _that_?!"

"B-b-but I-" Luffy whimpered.

"Because he's an idiot who doesn't know when to shut up!" Ace growled.

"Now, just calm down, you two." Nati tried to say.

"YOU, STAY OUT OF THIS!" both screamed.

"But if you just let me explain-"

"Shut up!" Sabo yelled. "You think I enjoyed living in that suffocating High Town?! You think I liked that my life was decided long before I was even born?!" At this point, Sabo was fighting back angry tears in his eyes. "You think I was happy that my parents only cared about using me to elevate themselves to Royals?!" Getting back on his feet, the blond turned his back to the three of them to hide the tears now streaking down his cheeks, his entire body vibrating from anger. "Without a doubt, the greatest day of my life before the three of us became brothers, was the day I decided to run away from home and live in Grey Terminal. And believe me, you're going to have to find me a really good reason to go back to that life." After wiping away the tears, Sabo looked back at Nati, a strong glare in his eyes. "You will never understand anything that I had to go through up there, Magnus D. Nati."

With that, the blond walked off without another word, his pipe slung over his shoulder.

"And there's the cold shoulder I was waiting for." Nati said under his breath.

"Nice going, Luffy," Ace said, "this has to be the biggest blunder that oversized mouth of yours has caused since Porchemy captured you because you screamed my name."

Grabbing his pipe, the 10-year-old began to follow his brother.

"Hey, where are you two going?!" Nati called out.

"Hunting; and you better not follow us." Ace glared back at Luffy. "Either of you."

Out of panic, Luffy tried to chase after his brothers but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Let them go, Luffy; trust me." Nati said.

"But, Nati," Luffy started crying, "they're my brothers. They have to know the truth; otherwise…"

At this point, Luffy was curled up on the ground as if to try and hide himself inside his straw hat, crying non-stop. Nati only sighed and looked in the direction the two 10-year-olds had disappeared to, taking off his Robin Hood cap and running a hand through his hair.

_Why do I get the feeling those two just disowned him?_ Nati thought before placing his cap back on his head and crouching down in front of the 7-year-old.

"Listen to me, Luffy," he said softly, "as long as they're like that, Ace and Sabo aren't gonna listen to either of us; we just need to give them time to calm down a little, then we'll explain everything to them, okay?"

Luffy looked up at his friend for a moment then nodded.

"Thattaboy." Smiling, Nati pulled his friend into a soft embrace.

"Nati…" Luffy whispered after a minute.

"Yeah, Luffy?"

"Can I stay on your ship while you're here?"

Nati pulled away and looked at the 7-year-old, a little surprised at first, then smiled and flipped back his straw hat to ruffle his messy hair.

"Sure you can, little buddy." He helped Luffy onto his feet and guided him back to the docks.

"Luffy?" the maroon haired boy began, "I am so sorry; I swear, if I had known, I would never have said anything."

"S-Sabo never liked the fact that he was born a noble." Luffy sniffled. "… And that's why I never told you."

To be continued

* * *

As Nati put it so well, oops. anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I've already got a fair amount of the next chapter done, so hopefully it should be up soon (with any luck, by the time Sabo makes his reappearance, although I doubt it).


	4. Something Wrong

Closest Thing to a Brother Ch 4

Sorry it took so long, I was having computer problems. But I have it up now, so enjoy

* * *

Ch. 4. Something Wrong

"I think we were too hard on him." Sabo finally said after an hour of hunting.

"What?" Ace said lazily.

"Luffy; I think we were too hard on him."

"You're taking his side now? It was _your_ secret he told!"

"You have to keep in mind, Ace, who this was we were yelling at. We should've expected this."

"Whatever, that rubber brained idiot's opened his mouth one too many times, and this time, it bit him on the ass, hard."

"But, Ace-"

"Besides, like you said, this is Luffy we're talking about."

Sabo looked over at Ace. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Knowing him, he'll probably be back to his usual, smiling, annoying self by the end of the day, maybe sooner."

Sabo gave his brother a look that told him that he wasn't convinced.

"Oh, come one, Sabo, you and I both know Luffy's bounced back from worse; it's one of the only advantages he has of being made of rubber."

"I dunno, Ace. There was something different about this time."

"Yeah, the fact that there was someone else to scream at. Now come on; we've got lunch to catch!"

Sabo sighed and kept pace with his brother as they ran, but still couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something important

* * *

The two brothers arrived back at the Dadan House with the deer they had bagged, both expecting to be greeted by their little brother at the door. But when they went inside, the first thing they saw was a confused Dadan, who they tossed the deer to as they walked past.

"Ace, Sabo, where's Luffy?!" she demanded.

Ace and Sabo looked back at her.

"He's not back?" Sabo asked.

"No, he's always with you two." Dogra said. "Why wouldn't he be now?"

"We had a little argument earlier today and we left him in a huff." Ace said.

"Alone?!" Dadan yelled.

"We thought he came back here." Sabo replied.

"Well he didn't, so where is he?!"

The two 10-year-olds looked at each other then back at Dadan before answering.

"We don't know."

After dinner, Ace and Sabo went to get ready for bed, both feeling uncomfortable about the empty spot between them.

"Still think he'll bounce back by the end of the day?" Sabo said.

"Oh, shut up, Sabo!" Ace growled as he turned under his covers away from the blond.

The last thing the two of them thought before falling asleep was to wonder where their little brother was.

* * *

3 days later…

The two 10-year-olds headed back to the Dadan House, a huge ox in tow, neither of them saying a word to the other.

"I'm getting worried Ace." Sabo finally said.

"About what?"

"About Luffy, what else?"

"Why would you be worried about him?"

"Ace, it's been three days since we last saw him; why _wouldn't_ I be worried?"

"So? He's probably with that Nati kid."

"Even if that's true, Luffy's never stayed away from us for more than a few hours, let alone three days. And certainly not _just_ because we yelled at him."

Ace looked back at Sabo out of the corner of his eye. "What are you getting at?"

"Ace, what if there's more to it than that? I mean, we both know when it comes to Luffy, nothing is ever that simple. What if we missed an important detail?"

The raven haired boy let the thought roll around in his head. Admittedly, Sabo was right; Luffy's actions rarely, if at all had one reason behind them and if it did, it was always an extremely good reason. And even for Luffy, this behavior was too unusual. But Ace, being Ace, wasn't about to admit that out loud.

"Tch, whatever, he's just being stubborn."

"Are you sure _he's_ the one being stubborn?" The blond sneered, only to get no answer.

Sabo couldn't believe his brother's coldness. How could he not see that something was wrong with their little brother?! He was about to say something when he noticed that Ace was a little more tense than he was a few minutes ago and sighed in annoyance.

* * *

6 days later…

It had been over a week since the two brothers had seen Luffy. Sabo was by this point scared that something had happened to him and although he would never admit it, even Ace was starting to get worried. Finally they decided that, after they took the three boars they had just killed back to the Dadan House, they would go out looking for him. But what they didn't expect was an angry looking Dadan waiting for them outside the door when they got back.

"You two better have a good explanation for this one." She growled.

"For what?" Sabo asked.

"Yeah, we just got back." Ace tossed the two boars he was carrying towards Dadan and turned to leave as Sabo did the same with the one he was carrying. "Those are for dinner." He continued.

"We're gonna go look for Luffy." Sabo added before following his brother.

"He's been here since this afternoon." Dadan said.

Ace and Sabo stopped in their tracks upon hearing this and spun around.

"WHAT?!" they exclaimed before bolting inside.

Sure enough, there was Luffy, sitting in the center of their room with a blanket wrapped around him, sniffling silently. Aside from the fading bruise in the middle of his forehead, the 7-year-old seemed unharmed, but that didn't mean the two brothers didn't notice that Luffy's eyes were lacking their usual playful glint that they always had, even when he was sad or scared.

"He's been like that since he came in." Dadan said. "Now what did you two do?!"

"Hey, don't blame us, this is the first time we've seen him all week!" Ace complained.

"Has he said anything?" Sabo asked.

"Not since the boss asked him where he's been." Dogra replied.

"Which was…?" Ace said.

"His exact words," Dadan said, "'nowhere'."

The two brothers looked at each other for a moment before Sabo walked over to Luffy, crouching down to his level. Ace looked at the bandits and motioned for them to get lost before joining him.

"Luffy?" the mentioned raven haired boy didn't look up until Sabo placed a hand on his shoulder. "Lu, are you alright?"

Luffy only nodded and looked back down as if scared to look his brothers in the eye.

"C'mon, Luffy, what's wrong?" Ace groaned, causing the 7-year-old to flinch and earning a glare from Sabo.

"Luffy," the blond tried again, "where were you all week?"

The 7-year-old curled up into his blanket but didn't even look up.

"Luffy." Ace growled with a warning tone, which caused their little brother to curl up even further into his blanket whimpering and this time earning a smack upside the head.

"Lu…" Sabo moved his hand on Luffy's shoulder to cup his cheek. "It's alright. You can tell us."

Luffy glanced up at his brother with sad and scared eyes for a moment then looked back down.

"I was with Nati;" he finally muttered. "He said I could stay on his ship."

"Why?"

"Well, after you guys left, I asked him if I could-"

"No, Luffy;" the 7-year-old looked up at Sabo. "Why did you stay with him? Why didn't you come back here?"

Luffy closed his eyes tightly and turned away from the blonde's hand.

"I didn't think you guys wanted to see me again."

Both brothers felt their hearts skip a beat upon hearing this. They couldn't believe that Luffy would think that.

"So, why aren't you with him now?" Ace said.

With one hand, Luffy shifted his straw hat forward to try and hide the tears forming in his eyes.

"He finished resupplying today;" he sniffled. "He left for home this afternoon."

Sabo was about to say something when he noticed something on Luffy's hand. He slowly and gently eased it into his own and was surprised to find a bandage wrapped around his index finger.

"Luffy, what happened?" Sabo asked.

The 7-year-old twisted his hand away. "Nothing; I just pricked my finger."

The two 10-year-olds looked at each other then back at Luffy, who had pulled his head into the blanket, leaving only his straw hat showing. For the rest of the evening, Luffy didn't say anything to anyone, and later that night, as the three of them were getting ready for bed, Sabo decided to try again.

"Lu…" The 7-year-old hummed in acknowledgement. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Mmm-hmm." He only replied.

"Well y'know if there's anything wrong, you can tell us, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, goodnight, Lu."

"'Night."

Before he fell asleep, Luffy looked at his bandaged finger and thought back to his friend's departure.

_After rolling the last barrel of supplies onto his skiff, Nati walked up to Luffy, who was sitting with his feet dangling over the side of the docks, and ran a hand through the younger's hair._

"_You gonna be okay here without me?" he asked._

"_Mmm-hmm, I'll be fine." Luffy replied, looking up at him._

"_You sure?"_

"_Nati."_

"… _Okay." Nati helped Luffy to his feet, placing both hands on his shoulders. "Don't worry, little buddy, we'll clear everything up with them when I come back…" Nati pulled the 7-year-old into a hug. "I promise."_

_Luffy hugged the maroon haired boy back tightly, snuggling into his vest._

"_Y'know, Luffy, you could tell them while I'm gone."_

_Luffy looked up at his friend with sad eyes then back down. "I don't think they'll listen to me."_

_Nati felt a twinge in his stomach and hugged Luffy tighter._

"_Gah, I feel so guilty leaving you here alone. I just wish there was something I could do for you in the meantime…" Nati then pulled away, his eyes wide and distant._

"_Wait…" he said, a smile slowly stretching across his face, "there _is_ something I can do!"_

"_What?" Luffy asked._

_Nati let go of his friend and jumped back onto his skiff. "Wait here!"_

* * *

It had been three weeks since Luffy came back and he barely said anything to his brothers since then. What worried them even more was the fact that he seemed to be keeping his distance from them and even shutting them out at times. Finally, Sabo couldn't take it anymore.

"Luffy, what's wrong, really?" he asked after dinner that night.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Lu, you've clearly been upset about something for the past few weeks now. What is it?"

"Nothing." Luffy was about to duck into his covers again, but stopped when he felt Sabo's hand on his shoulder.

"Luffy… I'm worried about you."

Luffy looked over at the blond when he heard the sadness laced in his voice and felt a twinge of guilt when he saw the pain in Sabo's eyes. He wanted to tell his brother the truth, but…

"Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." The 7-year-old pushed Sabo's hand away from him.

"About what? Luffy, what has you so upset that you would stay so far away from us?"

"I just don't want you guys to get any more upset at me?"

"Since when have you cared about that?"

"Sabo-"

"Luffy, does this have to do with that argument we had before?"

The 7-year-old tensed up and burrowed deeper into his covers which only confirmed Sabo's suspicions even more as he placed his hand on Luffy's shoulder again.

"Lu, what am I missing? You would never be this upset over a simple scolding unless there was more to it than that. Please, tell me what it is; I want to-"

"Sabo, I'm tired; I just want to go to sleep." Luffy groaned as he shrugged his brother's hand away and ducked under his covers.

Sabo retracted his hand looking down in defeat.

"Okay, Luffy," he sighed, "but could you please tell me tomorrow morning?"

"… Okay."

"Promise?"

Luffy hesitated for a minute. "Promise."

Finally satisfied, Sabo tucked himself into bed.

"Goodnight, Luffy."

"'Night."

As they both fell asleep, neither of them were aware that Ace, who had turned in before them, had heard their entire conversation. Although he never voiced it, he was just as worried about his little brother as Sabo was and wanted to know what was wrong just as much as he did.

_Maybe we'll finally get our answer tomorrow morning._ Ace thought before he fell asleep.

* * *

"Ace, wake up!" Sabo yelled, frantically shaking his brother's shoulder.

"Nnuuunngh, Sabo, you better have a good reason for waking me up." Ace groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "Otherwise you're gonna find yourself missing another tooth."

"Luffy's gone!"

Ace was wide awake now.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HE'S GONE?!" he yelled as he bolted upright.

"I mean, he's gone!" Sabo enunciated, motioning to the empty spot where Luffy should have been. "I've checked all over the house; he's not here!"

"Well then, where is he?!"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be waking you up THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING!"

"ACE, SABO, KEEP IT DOWN UP THERE!" Dadan yelled from her room underneath them as she banged the ceiling with a broom handle. Not wanting to hint something was wrong, the two brothers stopped arguing for a minute.

"Ace, even you have to admit by now that something isn't right." Sabo whispered. "Luffy disappeared for over a week, he's practically been keeping his distance from us since he came back, and now this!"

"I'm well aware of that, Sabo. What, you think I haven't noticed how Luffy's been sulking around us for the past…"Ace trailed off as he remembered something Luffy had said. "Sabo, how long has it been since that Nati kid's last visit?"

"Uhh… About a month." The moment he answered, he remembered the same thing Ace had;

"_Nati comes here once a month and he stays here for an entire week!"_

The two brothers looked at each other and said in unison the same thing that was on their minds;

"He's at the docks!"

to be continued

* * *

I know, I know, not my best work and I barely had Nati in here except in a flashback, but I promise it'll get better next chapter. Until then, Happy Halloween!


	5. Lessons, Explanations, Escalations

Closest Thing to a Brother Ch 5

After much longer than I wanted, another chapter uploaded, and just in time for Sabo's approaching reveal. Enjoy

* * *

Ch. 5. Lessons, Explanations, Escalations

Luffy sat on the docks huddled in the blanket he had grabbed from the Dadan House. As he looked out across the ocean under the still dark, moonlit night, Nati's words echoed in his head; _"Don't worry, little buddy, we'll clear everything up with them when I come back. I promise."_

The 7-year-old looked down at the letter in his hand that he was given when he came home yesterday and read it for the ninth time since arriving at the docks two hours ago.

'_I'm on my way little buddy. I should be there by tomorrow morning, just hold on a little bit longer.'_

Luffy looked back out over the horizon, hoping to soon see the black-sailed ship on approach to Goa with his best friend on board. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and when he opened them again, it was daytime and he was on someone's ship, wrapped up more comfortably in his blanket.

" Y'know, I was a little worried when I didn't see or hear you try and flag me down, more so when I was able to dock the Shadow without you damaging it." A familiar voice said. Luffy looked over and saw Nati sitting on a barrel, fiddling with a piece of rope. "I was even more worried still when I found you sprawled out across the docks asleep."

"Sorry." Luffy yawned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"It's alright, little buddy, I'm just glad you're okay." Nati jumped off the barrel, putting the rope down on top of it. "So, how long were you waiting there for me?"

"I dunno, it was still night when I fell asleep."

"I see…" Nati walked up to the raven haired boy and crouched down in front of him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Luffy, do your brothers know you're here?"

"No…" Luffy replied quietly. "I didn't tell them."

"Have you talked to them _at all_ since I left?"

"Not really…" the 7-year-old looked down. "I didn't want them to get more angry at me."

"Since when have you cared about that?"

Despite it being said in a playful way, Luffy still winced at his friend's words, remembering Sabo had asked him the same thing last night. Seeing his reaction, Nati moved his hand under Luffy's chin and tilted his head up.

"Are you really that nervous about talking to them about last month?"

"Mmm-hmm." Luffy nodded.

Nati looked down with a long sigh before looking back up at Luffy and lightly ruffling his hair.

"I'll tell you what," he smiled softly, "I normally wouldn't do this, but how 'bout after getting a quick bite, you and I start your boar riding lessons early?"

"Really?"

"Yeah." Nati stood back up and held his hand out for Luffy. "And after we're done, we'll go look for your brothers and tell them together, I promise."

Luffy looked at his friend's outstretched hand for a moment before finally taking it and pulled himself onto his feet.

"Thattaboy. And I know the perfect place to start hunting." the 8-year-old placed Luffy's hat, which was dangling loosely around his neck, back on his head. "Just let me go grab my bag and we'll be off, okay?"

"Okay, Nati."

Luffy waited until Nati was ready to go and soon the two friends left the maroon haired boy's skiff behind and headed off. And although he didn't show it, throughout the entire walk, Nati was a little edgy about his decision to begin Luffy's lessons so soon and with him still as upset as he clearly was.

_I really hope I know what I'm doing._ He thought as he put his arm around Luffy's shoulders and led him to the forest.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the right ship?" Ace asked after looking over the skiff.

"Of course I'm sure!" Sabo replied. "It's in the same place as last time, it's the same length, height and structure, and more importantly, one of the blankets from the Dadan House is here! We must have missed them."

"Oh, great." Ace plopped down against the railing. "So, now what do we do?"

"I don't know." Sabo sat down next to his brother. "If it were just Luffy, I would say we should go check the places he knows to be waiting for us at."

"Except he's with that Nati kid, and we have no idea where those two spend all their time. And not only that, Luffy's been all but avoiding us all month, so even if he wasn't with him, he still wouldn't be going somewhere he knows we'd find him at."

The two 10-year-olds were silent for several minutes until Sabo thought of something.

"What about the river? That's where they went the first day last time, maybe they went there again."

"Well, we've got nothing else to go on." Ace stood back up. "We may as well start there."

Sabo nodded in agreement and stood up as well before the two of them jumped off the skiff and headed for the river, both hoping that their brother was there and that he was alright.

* * *

"Now are you sure you feel up for this, Luffy; I mean, if you don't, we can wait a few more days."

"No, I can do this;" Luffy replied. "I _wanna_ do this."

Nati sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. _Maybe it'll help get his mind off all this._

"Well, if you say so." He murmured before spotting two boars in the distance. Smiling, Nati dragged Luffy to a hiding spot behind a tree and pointed to them.

"We'll start with those two." Nati whispered. "I suggest you start with the smaller one; you'll be able to get a better grip on it."

Luffy was about to complain that he wanted the bigger one when Nati continued.

"And more importantly, the small ones are always the meanest."

Upon hearing this, Luffy immediately lit up with excitement.

"What do I do first?!" he grinned.

There's the smile I was missing." Nati chuckled. "Alright, first thing you need to do is come at it from either behind or from above; that way it doesn't see you coming when you jump on its back."

"Above?" Luffy interrupted. "How do I do that?"

Nati pointed to a tree branch almost directly above the boars and Luffy nodded in understanding.

"Okay then," the 8-year-old continued, "once you're on its back, get a firm grip on whatever you can; the tusks, the ears, the bristles on its back, it doesn't matter. Just grab on and hold tight because those things _will_ try and buck you off. I suggest you lay on your stomach across its spine so you get better leverage, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, as soon as you get the chance, kick it as hard as you can in the ribs or as near to the tail as possible to make it go forward. But make sure you have a firm hold on it before you do, because it'll take off like a shot, and it will still be trying to get you off. Pull on the left ear to go left, the right ear to go right, both to stop, and kick the tail to go faster. Got all that?"

"Yup."

"Good, now let's get started. And don't worry; I'll be right there behind you to help whenever you need it."

Luffy smiled and nodded before he started climbing the tree.

"Oh, and Luffy," the raven haired boy looked back at his friend, "one more thing; if you start to scream, or laugh, or if you try and talk, make sure you have your teeth clenched so you don't bite your tongue, okay?"

"Okay."

With that, Luffy continued climbing up the tree while Nati snuck up quietly on the larger boar from behind. Then once they were in position, both jumped.

* * *

Ace and Sabo continued walking through the forest. They didn't find any trace of Luffy or Nati at the river so now they had to figure out what to do from there.

"Maybe he went to Gray Terminal." Sabo suggested.

"Even Luffy knows better than to go there alone." Ace replied.

"Yeah, but that Nati kid would be with him, right?"

"What reason would those two go to Gray Terminal?"

"How the hell should I know?!" Sabo snapped. He then recoiled from his actions and sighed. "Sorry, I'm just really worried about Luffy."

"I know…" Ace sighed, looking down.

_I'm worried too._

"Ace this doesn't make any sense;" Sabo continued after a minute. "I mean if I didn't know any better, I'd think he's actually scared of us!"

"That's impossible! Luffy wasn't even scared of me after I threw him over a bridge!"

"Exactly. So what could have possibly happened during that argument that would cause him to act this way around us?!"

"The sooner we find him the sooner we'll find out the answer."

"True, but we don't even know where he is!"

"Didn't that Nati kid mention something about boar riding lessons last month?"

"That doesn't exactly help us, Ace; those lessons could be happening on the other side of Mt. Corvo for all we know."

Suddenly the two brothers heard an all too familiar shriek of terror from behind them. They turned around in time to see a wild boar charge through the clearing and dove to either side of it. As it barreled past them, Ace and Sabo saw on its back the source of the screams.

"That was Luffy!" Sabo exclaimed as he rejoined his brother.

"I know, Sabo, I saw him." Ace groaned as he stood up. "So, where's the kid we both know put him on its back?"

"INCOMING!" another familiar voice screamed.

The two boys looked over and saw Nati charge in on the back of another boar, which stopped suddenly and tossed the 8-year-old over his head at them. As he flew past them and tucked into a tight roll, Nati slammed into a tree upside down and could only watch as the boar he was riding took off.

"Found him." Sabo said.

"I'm not blind, Sabo."

"Could've fooled me!" Nati growled as he got back on his feet and dusted off his tan pants. "And now thanks to you two, I've lost my only chance to catch up with him!"

"Don't blame us; you're the one who put him on that thing!" Ace yelled.

"Hey, it's not my fault he accidently got it going too soon! And I gave him the opportunity to back out, but he said he wanted to do this!"

"And you listened to him?!" Sabo yelled.

"Under normal circumstances, I would've had him wait a few days, but I could tell he needed something to get his mind off the argument you two decided to put him through!"

"How's that our fault?!"

"You shouldn't have yelled at him! You had no reason to!"

"Don't try and pin this on us; we had every reason to!"

"He's right!" Ace replied. "Besides, it's his own fault; Luffy's the one who told you-"

"Absolutely nothing about Sabo being a noble!"

Both brothers stopped arguing at this and stared at the maroon haired boy in shock.

"If Luffy didn't tell you, then how did you know?"

"Askes the boy who looks like a blue penguin wearing a top hat!" Nati motioned to the blonds outfit. "C'mon, I sneak into High Town twice per visit, I think I know what a noble looks like; especially one wearing a noble crest on his belt buckle!" Sabo instinctively looked down at his belt buckle. "Unless someone High Town owed you a favor, which I seriously doubt, there's only two possible ways you could've gotten that outfit, and you are too nice of a kid to have stolen it. What amazes me, though, is that you two would decide that telling a simple secret is enough of a reason to disown Luffy!"

"What?" Sabo exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?!" Ace said. "We'd never do that to him!"

"Well, you wouldn't be able to tell from the fact that that was the longest I've ever seen Luffy go without so much as smiling, after you two screamed at him! You know Luffy was upset for the entire time I was here last month; he didn't leave my ship once up until I started loading the last of my supplies and he was too out of it for me to even continue target practice with him. To be honest, I had every reason to believe I had made a terrible mistake leaving him here for you two to bully him, even though what happened wasn't his fault!"

After readjusting his Robin Hood cap firmly onto his head, Nati grabbed his seabag, which had landed next to him, and turned to leave. "Now if you'll excuse me, that boar Luffy's riding is headed for Gray Terminal, so I've got a best friend to save; and you better not follow us." The 8-year-old glared back at the two brothers. "Either of you."

As they watched Nati run off after the boar, Ace and Sabo felt their hearts drop into their stomachs.

"Luffy thought we disowned him for nothing;" Sabo muttered. "No wonder he's been so upset and distant from us."

Ace dropped to his knees trembling; Nati's words hit him the hardest because they were the same ones he had used on them last month.

"Sabo, what did we do?" he whispered.

The blond placed a comforting hand on Ace's shoulder, the latter of whom looked up at him.

"I think the better question is what are we _going_ to do?"

To be continued

* * *

Things are about to get very interesting very fast. Unfortunately, although I've already started on it, I have to do a lot of thinking for the next chapter so don't expect it anytime soon (but then again they haven't been coming to me as quickly as I wanted in the first place). But until then, I hope you liked this one.


	6. Trying to Fix Things

Closest Thing to a Brother Ch 6

after over a year, this chapter is finally done! Enjoy

* * *

Ch. 6. Trying to Fix Things

"PUT ME DOWN! LET ME GO!" Luffy screamed the like over and over as he thrashed under the grip of one of the four thugs that had grabbed him after he flew off the boar he was riding.

"No doubt about it," one of them said, "he's definitely that kid; the one who's always with Ace and Sabo."

"So what do you recon we should do with him?" the one holding him asked.

"Well, I found a working cattle prod last week," another one replied, "we could always use that on him."

"No." the leader said. "The kid's a devil fruit user; he's made of rubber." A sinister grin then spread across his face. "Which brings up the question; if we held him over a fire, would he start to smell like burning rubber or burning flesh?"

The other three grinned widely at the thought while Luffy turned as pale as a sheet.

"Only one way to find out."

"Get a fire started, Victor."

"You got it, boss." The first thug replied.

"SOMEBODY HELP MEEEEEE!" Luffy wailed.

Suddenly a bottle sailed through the air and shattered against the second thug's forehead, sending him toppling backwards.

"DROP HIM!"

Everyone looked in the direction the voice had come from and saw a young boy with a forest green Robin Hood cap that fit somewhat loosely over his dark maroon red hair and a dangerously murderous glint in his dark green eyes.

"Hey, that's the kid from last month!" The thug holding Luffy yelled.

"Yeah, he's the little brat who stole all our hard-swindled money!" Victor said.

"Is that so." The leader sneered.

"Nati!" Luffy exclaimed.

"'Nati'. So that's your name, is it?"

"I said," as Nati dropped his seabag to the ground, it landed on a broken broomstick handle, which caused it to flip into the air and into his hand, "drop him."

"Interesting. And what if we don't?"

As if that were the trigger, Nati launched himself forward, then once he was close enough, drove one of the ends into the ground and pole-vaulted upward towards the leader's head, driving his heel hard into the bridge of his nose. As the leader stumbled a few steps back, Nati pushed himself off his face and landed on his feet a few meters away, the broomstick handle still in his hand. The leader wiped the blood away from his now broken nose and glared at the 8-year-old.

"Consider that a warning," Nati growled, "and it's the only one you get. Now, I'm not going to say this again; drop…him…now!"

"Why you treacherous little brat!" the thug Nati smacked with a bottle charged him with the cattle prod in his hand.

"Hey, save some for me, Flint; I have a bone to pick with that ungrateful little runt too!" Victor pulled out a knife and lunged at the maroon haired boy.

Nati stood his ground until the last possible second then, as Flint thrust the cattle prod at him, parried it away and spun around him, bringing the broomstick down hard across his back. As Flint crashed to the ground, Nati used the force of his attack to catapult himself into the air, dodging Victor as he tried to swipe at him with the knife and as he came back down, swung the handle down on his hand, knocking the knife to the ground and out of his. As he landed, Flint quickly recovered and turned around to try and stick the 8-year-old again but Nati, not missing a beat, dropped the broomstick and pivoted around the attack again, this time grabbing the cattle prod by the rod section with both hands and guiding it into Victor's neck as he reached for his knife. While still in motion, Nati used his momentum to rip the cattle prod away from Flint and as he spun around, jabbed it into his stomach.

With both men on the ground twitching, Nati tossed the cattle prod to one side and picked the broomstick handle back up along with the knife before glaring over at the leader, who quickly pulled out a pistol and aimed it at him. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Nati kicked a skull that was next to his foot at him. The leader smacked it away with the pistol but the moment he did, was greeted by the sight of a broomstick being swung at his head. He brought up his arm to block it, but was still knocked down by the force of the swing, which was strong enough to snap the handle in two, and soon found himself on his back with the maroon haired boy standing over him, holding the knife inches away from his throat, the now broken broomstick once again discarded to one side.

"Your move, pal." Nati said in a calm yet threatening tone. "And I'd be careful if I were you."

The leader looked first at the knife then glared up at him. "You're gonna regret that you wretched little monster."

"Take a number and get in line!"

"NATI, LOOK OUT!" Luffy screamed from behind him.

As Nati turned around, the thug holding Luffy smashed a bottle across his head, splitting open the right side. Dropping the knife, the 8-year-old staggered to the side but didn't go down until the thug kicked the dazed boy to the ground.

"Excellent work, James." The leader said as he got back to his feet.

"My pleasure, boss. Besides, the smug little cretin had it comin' anyway."

Nati tried to get back up but the leader put his boot down on his back and pushed him back to the ground.

"Going somewhere?"

"Bastard…" Nati muttered. "Get off."

"You're in no position to make insults, let alone demands." The leader looked over at the struggling 7-year-old. "Especially considering who I still have captive."

"He may not be," a metal pipe made contact with the leader's face, making him stumble backwards and off the maroon haired boy, "but we are."

Nati looked up after blinking away the spots dancing across his vision and was greeted with the sight of a boy crouching down in front of him wearing an all too familiar blue tail coat.

"Are you alright?" Sabo held out his hand for the 8-year-old, who roughly pushed it away.

"I didn't need your help, gap-tooth!"

"Well you could've fooled us!" Nati looked over Sabo's shoulder to see yet another familiar freckled face smirking at him.

"I thought I told you two not to follow me!"

"And it's a good thing we didn't listen." Ace replied.

"Oh, please, I had him right where I wanted."

"They had you pinned to the ground." Sabo said.

"And it's not the first time I've been cornered; I know what I'm doing."

"Might I point out which one of us is bleeding from the gash on the side of his head?" Ace said.

"He's right," Sabo said, "say whatever you want, you need our help."

After wiping the blood off his face, Nati stood back up and glared at the two 10-year-olds "I think you two have helped enough."

Ace and Sabo cringed at the maroon haired boy's words, dripping with acid.

"We know we made a mistake," Ace muttered, "and that's why we want to help."

"Please, Nati, if there's any chance we can fix this, then you have to let us." Sabo pleaded.

Nari's dark green eyes connected with Sabo's blue eyes for a brief moment then with Aces grey eyes for just as long before he answered.

"Alright." He sighed. "But if you make me regret this-"

"Don't worry," Ace tossed Nati the knife he had dropped, the latter of whom caught it with ease, "you won't."

"If I might interrupt."

The three of them looked over at the leader, who was already back on his feet again by this point. Ace and Sabo gripped their pipes tighter while Nati spun the knife around once in his hand and brought it up in front of him.

"I don't think we have to tell you this…" Sabo began.

"…But put our brother down." Ace finished.

"And why should we?" James sneered.

"In case you haven't noticed," the leader motioned towards Luffy, "you three are still in no position to make demands."

"You wanna bet?" Nati smirked as he stepped in front of the two 10-year-olds "'Cause I'm in the perfect position to!"

"Oh, please," James scoffed, "you may be good, but even you aren't that good."

"I don't have to be better;" Nati reflected the sunlight off the blade and into James' eyes, who instinctively dropped Luffy to shield them. "I just have to be smarter."

The second Luffy touched the ground he immediately bolted towards the three boys, running past Ace, who had charged the remaining thugs, and into Sabo's arms, hugging him tightly. At first, the blond didn't know how to react, having expected Luffy to run to Nati instead of him, but eventually he hugged the trembling 7-year-old back.

"Calm down, Luffy," Sabo started stroking his brother's hair gently, "you're safe now."

Luffy nodded and began to relax into his brother, gripping his jacket tighter. Nati glanced back at Luffy, taking in his still rigid posture, and quickly coming to a decision.

"Luffy," he began, "I want you to head back to the forest with…Ace and Sabo…while I finish up here."

The raven haired boy looked up at Nati. "But-"

"Luffy," Nati turned fully towards him, "you're too shaken up to do much of anything here. Besides, as much as I don't want to admit it, you'd be safer with them than you would with me right now, okay?"

Luffy held his friend's gaze for a moment longer then reluctantly nodded.

"Uhh…not that I don't agree with you," Sabo said as Nati turned away, "but what makes you think you can take those guys on alone?"

Nati stopped and glared at the blond out of the corner of his eye.

"Because I don't start what I can't finish; my father taught me that."

With that, the maroon haired boy ran off towards Ace, who had by this point pushed both thugs back and was about to finish them both off when Nati placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll take it from here."

Ace spun around to face him. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm going to-"

"You're going to," Nati grabbed the 10-year-old by his collar, "because you have a 'little brother' to take care of! Now, MOVE IT!"

The 8-year-old shoved Ace in the direction of the other two boys then gave him a look that dared him to argue. Although he wanted to do just that, Ace could see the amount of distrust Nati still had both in him and Sabo, just as easily as he had heard it in his voice, so he reluctantly turned to join his brothers.

Satisfied, Nati turned towards the remaining thugs and was immediately greeted by the sight of a metal shard being thrown at him, which he deflected into the air then, seeing the pistol the leader had aimed at him, quickly jumped after it. Grabbing it, he threw the shard at the leader's hand, knocking the pistol out of it and as he landed, placed the knife in his mouth and grabbed a nearby heavy chain with both hands. Swinging it several times above his head, Nati threw it at the two men, tangling them up by their legs and causing them to topple over. Taking the blade out of his mouth, the maroon haired boy looked at the two of them as they tried to untangle themselves and smiled.

"So," Nati smirked, "you guys still think I'm in no position to make dema-MA-MA-MA-MA-MA!"

Nati's entire body arched as Flint, who had by this point recovered along with Victor, plunged the cattle prod into his side.

"As a matter of fact, we do." He said.

The three brothers looked over when they heard Nati's voice stammer and watched in shocked horror as the 8-year-old dropped to his knees twitching; Luffy though watched more with horror.

"NATI!" the 7-year-old tried to get to his friend's side but was stopped when Sabo grabbed his arm.

"Luffy, no! You'll get hurt!"

"I don't care; he's my best friend!"

"So that's your connection to the little brat, is it?" the leader smirked as he and James got the chain off them and stood up.

"Well then," Victor walked up closer to Nati from behind, raising his arm to backhand him, "in that case, this is about to become very entertaining…for us."

Victor brought his hand down towards the maroon haired boy but before he made contact, Nati forcefully grabbed his wrist. For a brief and frightening moment, he didn't say anything or even move until suddenly his other hand, dropping the knife, shot up and grabbed Victor's shirt collar.

"Try and smack me, will ya?!" he snarled.

In one swift movement, Nati yanked the man off balance and drove him head first into the ground, knocking him out cold. Everyone froze and stared at the 8-year-old as he once again grabbed the knife and slowly stood up, then glared over at Flint, the look in his eyes more murderous than it had ever been before.

"Now for the bastard who electrocuted me."

In an instant, Nati lunged at Flint, who in his panic swung the cattle prod at his head. But before it made contact, Nati slashed the prod mid-swing with enough force to cut it in two. Then he grabbed the broken end as it was falling and while there was still a charge, thrust it into Flint's leg, dropping him to the ground, before he drove his knee into the man's diaphragm, knocking him onto his back dazed and gasping for breath.

"And let that be a lesson to you!" Nati growled as he tossed the broken cattle prod to the side and glanced over at the three brothers.

"I thought I told you three to get moving!" he yelled.

Ace and Sabo quickly turned around and ran for the forest, neither of them noticing that Luffy, who was trailing behind them, was looking back at his friend. He then turned around and ran to the 8-year-old's side, much to Nati's annoyance.

"Luffy, I said-"

"You're my best friend, Nati." The raven haired boy replied sternly. "I don't want you to get hurt when there might be something I can do."

"Luffy-"

"I'm not a helpless little boy anymore; I can fight back. And I'm not going to let you fight alone."

The maroon haired boy met the gaze from Luffy's soft brown eyes for a brief moment before he looked away and sighed in annoyance.

"Okay, fine." Nati groaned. "But I'm not letting you fight unarmed."

"But I don't have my pipe with me."

"Luffy, have I taught you nothing?!" Nati grabbed a cracked vase next to his foot and started tossing it up and down. "What's the second rule of fighting?"

The 7-year-old folded his arms in front of him and closed his eyes to think. After a moment, his eyes snapped open in remembrance and he looked around until his saw a dented cooking pan.

"Anything can be used as a weapon?" Luffy picked up the pan and held it defensively behind his head.

"Thattaboy." Nati glanced back at the two men. "Now then, where were we?"

"B-b-but, that's impossible!" James stammered. "How can you still be standing, much less move like that, after getting electrocuted?!"

"If I didn't know how to take a hit like that, then I would've been taken down by thugs more dangerous than you guys long before I ever came here."

Nati tossed the vase into the air higher than before and the second he did, Luffy jumped up and batted it at James' head, hitting him in the mouth with enough force to knock out one of his teeth.

"THAT'S for what you did to Nati!" he yelled.

"And THIS is for what you tried to do to Luffy!"

Nati launched himself at the two of them with Luffy close behind him the second he touched the ground.

* * *

"Why didn't you keep an eye on him while we were running?!" Sabo yelled.

"Why didn't _you_?!" Ace retorted.

"Because someone had to make sure you didn't turn back to fight those guys!"

"Well, I thought he was following us anyway!"

Sabo cracked his pipe across Ace's head. "Haven't you been paying attention this past month?! Luffy's been practically avoiding us ever since…"

Sabo's rage faltered as he remembered what happened last month and he bit his bottom lip in frustration. Seeing his discomfort, Ace placed a hand on Sabo's shoulder, the latter of whom looked over at him.

"He has to at the very least be close to Grey Terminal;" he began. "We'll start there."

"No need."

The two brothers looked in the direction of the new voice and saw Nati walking towards them, with his seabag slung across his stomach and Luffy situated on his back unconscious.

"LUFFY!" Sabo yelled.

"What the hell happened to him?!" Ace said as he and Sabo ran up to them.

"He's fine; just exhausted." Nati grumbled. "Fighting off a group of lowlifes that refuse to back down will do that to a boy who's been through that he has."

"Why would he do that to himself?"

"It's Luffy; this surprises you?"

"… Good point."

"To be honest, I can't believe even after everything, you still trust us enough to bring Luffy back to us." Sabo said after taking his brother off Nati's back.

"I don't." He sneered, getting both their attention.

"Then why did you?" Ace asked.

At that moment, the three boys heard a small tired groan and immediately turned their attention to the 7-year-old in Sabo's arms. Luffy slowly opened his eyes and looked at his friend, whose mood quickly changed.

"Hey there, Luffy, you feeling alright?" he said softly.

Luffy slowly nodded, his eyes already starting to glaze over.

"Good." Nati straightened up and began to turn to leave.

"… Hey Nati?" Luffy murmured tiredly.

The maroon haired boy glanced back at him. "Yeah?"

What Luffy said next made both brothers' hearts skip a beat;

"Thanks…for bringing me home…"

Smiling, Nati reached over and gently ran his hand through Luffy's hair.

"No problem, little buddy." He chuckled. "Now get some rest; you've earned it."

With that, Luffy closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep, a gentle smile across his face.

"Luffy asked you to take him back?" Ace mused.

Nati's mood quickly changed again and after shifting his seabag more comfortably onto his back, glared at the two 10-year-olds. "If I had my way, Luffy would be staying with me throughout my visit instead of you two."

After readjusting his Robin Hood cap firmly onto his head, Nati spun around and began to walk away.

"Nati, wait!" Sabo called out, 8-year-old slowed down but didn't stop. "I'm sorry."

Ace placed a hand on the blonds shoulder. "We both are."

Nati stopped walking for a moment and looked over his shoulder at the two brothers.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." He growled before turning away again.

After the maroon haired boy disappeared into the forest, Ace and Sabo looked first at each other then down at their sleeping brother, knowing full well he was right.

"Have we ever screwed up this badly, Ace?" Sabo muttered.

"Not that I know of."

"Big help you are."

"Don't worry; Luffy was still forgiving towards me even after everything I did to make him stop following me. He'll forgive us for something like this." Ace replied, although he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.

* * *

With neither of them wanting to explain to Dadan what happened, Ace and Sabo decided to take Luffy to the river and wait for him to wake up. Throughout that time, the two brothers couldn't stop thinking about everything that had transpired since last month and whether or not Luffy would forgive them.

It wasn't until two hours later, when the boys started cooking lunch, that Luffy finally woke up and even then, the three of them hardly spoke to one another for the rest of the day. Later that night, as they were getting ready for bed, Sabo finally steeled his nerves.

"Hey, Luffy?"

"Hmmm?" Luffy hummed, not moving to look at his brother.

"You know we would never do anything to hurt you, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you also know we'd never turn away from you no matter how mad we get, right?"

Luffy sat up and looked at the blond in confusion. "Sabo, is something wrong?"

Sabo was sitting with his arms resting on his knees, looking forward with his eyes cast down.

"I'm sorry, Luffy." He murmured. "I should've known even you would never tell anyone I was a noble; and even then I still overreacted towards you."

Sabo refused to meet his brother's gaze, afraid of what he would see if he did. There was a long silence between the two of them before Luffy spoke up.

"Nati did the same thing to me once." Sabo looked at the 7-year-old, who was looking away himself. "He guessed right something about me that I never told even Makino and that only a few people know about. When he did, I got really scared because I couldn't figure out how he found out and when he realized I never told anyone, he started to panic and then he refused to leave his ship or even talk to me for the rest of the day. I didn't understand why until he explained how he knew and I realized he was scared that he had lost me as a friend because of something he can do." Luffy turned towards his brother. "I was never upset because I thought you disowned me; I was upset because I knew Nati thought you had and I was afraid you guys wouldn't be friends because you were all angry at each other."

Sabo could only stare at the raven haired boy in total shock at what he had just said. He then sighed smiling and placed a hand on Luffy's back.

_I should've known;_ he thought. _Luffy never worries about himself._

"All the same, I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I'm sorry for that." Sabo glanced at Ace's sleeping form. "Ace is sorry too, but you and I both know he's never going to directly admit it."

Luffy giggled softly as he looked first at Ace, then back at Sabo, who pulled him into a gentle hug.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

Luffy smiled and wrapped his arms around his brother in response. After a moment, Sabo moved to let go of Luffy and lie down but the 7-year-old held on tightly to his vest. Understanding what he wanted, Sabo leaned back with Luffy now resting on his chest and pulled the covers over both of them.

"Goodnight, Lu."

Luffy snuggled closer to the blond and sighed contently.

"I knew you'd come." He whispered before falling asleep.

Sabo's breath hitched in his throat as he glanced down at his sleeping brother. At the same time, he felt another set of eyes staring at them and couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Even when he had every reason to, he never lost hope in us or stopped believing we'd be there for him." Sabo looked over and met Ace's shocked gaze. "Luffy's just full of surprises, isn't he."

Ace shook away the shock and just huffed as he turned away from his brothers, wrapping himself up in the blankets. Sabo could only smile as he settled more comfortably in his position and fell asleep knowing that everything was finally right among the three brothers again.

To be continued

* * *

needless to say chapter just didn't want to be written. but I'm glad I finished it and I hope it was worth the wait! and here's hoping the next one will be more cooperative


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